Hyam Plutzik
by George J. Dance Hyam Plutzik (July 13, 1911 - January 8, 1962) was an American poet and academic.Hyam Plutzik, American Poet, Hyam Plutzik, Poet. Web, Dec. 21, 2018. Life Plutzik was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of immigrants from what is now Belarus. He spoke Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian at home; he did not learn English until age 7, when he entered grammar school in Southbury, Connecticut (where his parents owned a farm). Plutzik attended Trinity College, where he studied under Odell Shepard. He graduated from Trinity in 1932. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Force in the Amerian South and in Norwich, England. After the war, Plutzik became a professor of English at the University of Rochester, where he served until his death. In 1961, he became Deane professor of rhetoric and poetry at the University. Plutzik published poems in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, Sewanee Review, Beloit Poetry Journal, Poetry-New York, Hopkins Review, Epoch, Furioso, Prairie Schooner, Yale Review, American Scholar, Antioch Review, New World Writing, The Nation, Saturday Review, Voices, Transatlantic Review, Christian Science Monitor, and Kenyon Review. He died of cancer on January 8, 1962, aged 50. Writing Academy of American Poets: "Plutzik’s work examines nature and the paradoxes of time, the relationship between poetry and science, and delves into questions of Jewish history and identity. In his report for the 1960 Pulitzer Prize (awarded to W.D. Snodgrass), prize juror Alfred Kreymbourg said of Plutzik, who was a finalist for his book Horatio: 'While he is not a musical poet like most of his contemporaries, he more than compensates by the strength and depth of his writing and the power of his visions and personality.'”Hyam Plutzik, Poets.org, Academy of American Poets. Web, Dec. 21, 2018. Recognition Plutzik is the only student to have won the Cooke Prize from Yale University twice: in 1933 for The Three, and in 1941 for Death of a Purple Rim. His books Aspects of Proteus, Apples from Shinar, and Horatio were all finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. The city of Rochester, New York declared May 11, 2002, Hyam Plutzik Day in recognition of his contributions to the community.Hyam Plutzik, Wikipedia, October 21, 2018. Web, Dec. 21, 2018. His collection Apples from Shinar was reissued in 2011 to mark the centennial of his birth. His poem “Sprig of Lilac” is the official poem of Rochester's Lilac Festival. Awards *Yale University: Prize Poem (J.S. Cook Award for “The Three”), 1933 *Yale University Prize Poem (J.S. Cook Award for “The Purple Rim”), 1941 *National Institute of Arts and Letters: Award for accomplishment in lyric and narrative poetry, 1950 *Poetry Awards Prize: for a Book of Verse (subsequently known as the Borestone Mountain Poetry Awards). Shared award with Rolfe Humphries, 1951 *University of Rochester Summer Faculty Fellowship for Creative Writing, 1954 *Ford Foundation Faculty Fellowship for study of science as background to modern poetry, 1954-1955. *University of Rochester Summer Faculty Fellowship for Creative Writing, 1954 *University of Rochester Summer Faculty Fellowship for Creative Writing, 1958 *Lillian Fairchild Award (Rochester) for Best Work of Imagination, 1959 Except where noted, award information courtesy Wikipedia. Publications Poetry *''The Three: Yale University prize poem, 1933''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1933. *''Death at the Purple Rim''. Brooklyn: Artisan Press, 1941. *''Aspects of Proteus''. New York: Harper, 1949. *''Apples from Shinar: A book of poems''. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1959, 2011. *''Horatio: A poem''. New York: Atheneum, 1961. * Collected Poems (with foreword by Anthony Hecht). Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1987. *''The Importance of Poetry; or, The coming forth from eternity into time''. New York: Oliphant Press, 2002. Non-fiction *''Letter from a Young Poet'' (with foreword by Daniel Halpern). Books & Books, 2016. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Hyam Plutzik, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 21, 2018. See also *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *Hyam Plutzik profile & 13 poems at the Academy of American Poets *Select Poems of Hyam Plutzik ;Books *Hyam Plutzik at Amazon.com ;About *"[http://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/thoughts-on-hyam-plutzik-letter-from-a-young-poet/ Thoughts on Hyam Plutzik, Letter from a Young Poet]" by Edward Moran, University of Rochester *Hyam Plutzik, Poet Official website Category:1911 births Category:1962 deaths Category:20th-century American poets Category:University of Rochester faculty Category:American male poets Category:Poets from New York (state) Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century poets Category:American poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:American academics Category:People from New York City Category:Jewish poets